Vasectomy: views of Latinos and white men.

A 4-page questionnaire was distributed to white and Latino men using the waiting room of the San Francisco General Hospital outpatient department in a consecutive manner (until 50 usable questionnaires were collected from each ethnic group) in an effort to document ethnic or cultural differences in attitudes toward vasectomy among lower economic class white and Latino men not considering vasectomy at the time. Respondents were limited to men ranging in age from 20-60 years. Men indicating a homosexual lifestyle were excluded. The questionnaire requested data on both current and past contraceptive practices and demographic characteristics. Approximately 40 men (27 white and 13 Latino) refused to respond to the questionnaire; 14 turned in unusable questionnaires. Combining refusals with incomplete questionnaires which was a form of refusal the response rate was 63% for whites and 72% for Latinos. The respondents were similar in age income and education. 94% of the whites and 16% of the Latinos were born in the US. The majority of the Latino foreign-born were from EL Salvador Nicaragua Mexico and Puerto Rico. 22% of the white men and 66% of the Latino men were married and 49% white and 63% Latino were Roman Catholic. The most common contraceptive method for both groups was oral contraception (OC) followed by condoms. The item about the use of the IUD was inadvertently omitted from the Spanish version of the questionnaire. 15 (42%) of the 36 white respondents answering the contraception questions reported their partners using the IUD currently or in the past. 48 (96%) of the white respondents and 27 (54%) of the Latino respondents indicated they knew the term vasectomy. The majority of the 44 white and 26 Latino respondents who indicated they knew what a vasectomy was anawered that they would not have a vasectomy even if they did not want more children. Both groups expressed an aversion to this type of surgery and over 2/5 of respondents in both groups indicated that they would never want to be sterile. There was little endorsement of items designed to elicit the masculinity issue or the association of vasectomy with impotence. 34% of the whites and 27% of the Latinos would consider vasectomy. Latinos differed significantly from whites in that fewer endorsed noninterference as 1 of their reasons. Neither group cited greater enjoyment of sex as a major incentive for vasectomy. The study findings suggest that Latinos in the US have insufficient knowledge about vasectomy to consider it as a birth control method. White respondents were more knowledgeable about vasectomy and more aware of its positive aspects than the Latinos.